Originally reported for KDNK News
Megan Tackett has been a recent but recognizable fixture at the Aspen Daily News for the past four years: first as a crime reporter, then chronicling COVID. Last week, she wrapped up her tenure as the paper’s editor-in-chief. Tackett previously worked at The Sopris Sun and KDNK.
During her time at the Daily News she collaborated heavily in production of a stand-alone Spanish-language newspaper called el Sol del Valle. In partnership with The Sopris Sun, this initiative has helped expand access to local journalism in the Roaring Fork Valley.
When asked about her experience as editor at the Aspen Daily News, Tackett had this to say: “I was always simultaneously floored and flattered by the level of engagement from my readers. We have such an incredibly engaged community, and people are so well-informed. It has been the professional honor of my life to sit in this chair in this community, so thank you.”
Tackett established a reputation for tenacity in her reporting and a familiarity with community members from all walks of life.
She doesn’t plan on leaving Carbondale any time soon — she’ll be focused in her new role as operations director for Bowden Real Estate.
“I’ve gotten to know Bob [Bowden] over the years, and I told him I don’t know the field, but I would be honored to take it on. Business development and growth management is definitely in my wheelhouse and something I’m passionate about. He tells me, ‘I’ll teach you the industry, I just want your brain,’ and I thought, ‘Okay, here’s someone on a similar wavelength as me.’ But, the thing that’s so wonderful to me as well, is he’s in a stage of his life where he is really thinking [about his] legacy. And when it comes to strategic positioning within the community for him, that now also means meaningfully exploring public-private sector partnerships to tackle this workforce housing problem that seemingly every resort community on the Western Slope is facing.”
Now that Tackett is no longer corralling reporters and photographers, you’ll see less of her toting around a laptop, and more of her at yoga classes, out socializing, or skiing to her heart’s content.
“I’m so, so, so excited at every level,” she continued. “I feel like I’m getting paid to get the equivalent of a Harvard MBA, and I think that we have an opportunity to not create new momentum but more meaningfully leverage the momentum the community already has going in this conversation as it pertains to housing. So, between those two things it’s a dream job.”